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Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand Insurers that can embrace the changing environment by redesigning their operating models and reinventing their business will be the most successful industry players of the future.
Future of Insurance | September 2017
FUTURE OF INSURANCE
3INSURANCE AT THE INTERSECTION | REINVENTING THE MODEL, REPOSITIONING THE BRAND 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The insurance industry is at a crossroads. Data, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) are redefining the business model. And they are changing human behaviour: the way we interact with brands, with one another, with our surroundings — and the way we consume products and services.
At intersections, we are confronted with an important choice about how to move forward.
This is where today’s insurers find themselves: confronting perhaps their most significant
strategic decision for decades. Their businesses will look very different five to ten years
from now. The vision they set out today – and their ability to execute that vision effectively
– will determine their future competitiveness.
This is not business as usual, and there are multiple paths to success, but one guiding
formula: insurers’ strategies must shift the role that insurance companies play, and provide
their customers with new types of value. Those insurers that can embrace the changing
environment by redesigning their operating models and reinventing their business will be
the most successful industry players of the future. The stakes are high — insurers that fail
to embrace a digital mindset risk missing out on the $1.6 trillion of value that the new
generation of digital is set to create in the next three years.1
This paper aims to set out a course of action for incumbent insurers as they respond to a raft
of pressures: their customers’ ever-changing expectations, dynamic disruptors transforming
elements of the value chain, new technologies evolving at pace, and their own seemingly
monolithic business models. First, we identify and demystify these challenges; then, we
outline ways for insurers to respond strategically; finally, we outline how to follow-through
on that strategic response.
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Contents
8 Key Takeaways 04
01 The intersection: identifying the challenges ahead 06
02 The response: rethinking enterprise strategy 12
03 The follow-through: executing the vision 16
Conclusion: Repositioning the brand 26
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8 KEY TAKEAWAYS8 strategic imperatives insurers need to consider in response to a challenging and rapidly changing business environment
01INSURERS MUST MOVE FROM
“DOING” DIGITAL TO “BEING” DIGITAL
Until now, most insurers’ approaches to going digital
have amounted to a digital veneer placed on top of
legacy systems, processes and products. However,
the growing impact of the Internet of Things (IoT),
big data insights, and the advancement of machine
learning and automation, signals a step-change in
how insurers must apply digital technology. And as
digital promotes transformation of their customers’
business models, insurers must also evolve their
products and risk management processes to
meet new demands. A recent Cognizant study
identified what is at stake: 61% of insurers felt that
digitally-driven transformation is the key to their
organization’s commercial future. 2
03EXCITING OPPORTUNITIES ARE ARISING FOR INSURERS THAT CAN DELIVER NEW VALUE BEYOND THE PREVENTATIVE MODEL
Big-data advances can unlock new revenue streams for
insurers. To capture opportunities, insurers must shift
from the traditional reactive insurance model, to a new
IoT-driven preventative model and ultimatly develop new
value propositions. For instance, commercial property
insurers can use data captured by connected buildings
not only to help their customers reduce the risk of fire
or water damage, but potentially to add further value
by generating insights about building-use patterns and
worker behaviour.
02 INSURERS FACE A BATTLE TO REMAIN RELEVANT
Insurers are struggling to keep pace as digital opens
up new ways for retail and commercial consumers to
access services — and heightens their expectations.
For personal lines, new entrants are focusing on new
insurance models and targeting specific failings in
the current insurance customer experience, while
life insurers are struggling to attract new business:
a 2016 study by the Association of British Insurers
found that 8.5 million UK adults with dependants do
not have a policy.3 Commercial customers, meanwhile,
are striving for deeper insights from big data. Finding
new ways to add value through data will be key to
insurers’ differentiation and growth in commercial
and personal lines.
04 UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR WILL ENABLE NEW SERVICE MODELS TO SUCCEED
As growing volumes of real-time data become available,
insurers can become more than indemnifiers of risk;
by understanding how to drive positive behaviours, they
can coach businesses and individuals to avoid risk by
acting on insights from data. However, they will need
deeper human behavioural expertise to embed new
services and interactions with customers in a way
that makes them take action.
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05 INSURERS STAND TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL GAINS BY MOVING TO THE NEW MODEL
If insurers successfully shift their models from
reactive to preventative, it will disrupt the
economics of their businesses: customers
will make fewer claims, and premiums will
fall. Insurers will therefore need to convince
customers to pay for the new types of value
they can deliver. However, by going a step beyond
the preventative model, to one that adds value
beyond risk, insurers can generate new revenue
streams which are much more capital efficient.
If the revenue is not specific to risk, insurers
will be able to free-up capital previously tied
up for liquidity compliance — opening up huge
opportunities.
07 THE RIGHT ENTERPRISE STRATEGY IS THE KEY TO GROWTH
As the insurance industry is disrupted, insurers
must assess their strengths and identify the
model that they can compete with in future.
That might be as a master of omnichannel delivery
that owns the customer relationship, the orchestrator
of an ecosystem of partners, or a super-efficient,
data-savvy supplier that offers its services through
third-party providers. The key to future success is
charting the right course, sharing a clear vision
across the organisation, and empowering the
workforce to get behind and carry out that change.
06NEW ENGAGEMENT CAPABILITIES WILL BE KEY TO SUCCEEDING WITH INTERACTIVE BUSINESS MODELS
While insurers’ traditional business models involve
limited customer interaction, new models will
require multiple client interactions and proactive
engagement. This presents a potential threat
if not done well, but for those that can adapt,
there is a clear opportunity to increase interactions
with customers. By automating processes and
implementing intelligent digital technologies,
insurers can become hyper-efficient in areas
such as claims handling and underwriting, and
devote greater resource to more meaningful,
higher value interactions with customers.
08INSURERS MUST NOW LEARN TO RUN
While insurers’ existing business models hold
significant value, both in their vast experience and
knowledge, and their strong capital base, there are
many areas where insurers are not performing well,
or that will not offer value in future. The next step
forward is to assess where value can be generated
a decade from now, and to embrace strategies that
will accelerate the path to get there — whether it’s
collaborating with industry disruptors or establishing
new ventures. Whichever route they choose, insurers
must make the most of their heritage advantages
to ensure that they are the chief beneficiaries of
industry change — and they need to move fast.
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THE INTERSECTION: Identifying the challenges ahead01
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TECHNOLOGY
The rapid advancement of cloud, artificial intelligence
(AI), big data and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies
is changing how we understand the insurable
environment. According to CB Insights, AI start-ups
globally raised more than $5 billion in venture
funding in 2016 as business applications of the
technology proliferate and spur innovation activity.4
No organisation can afford to bury its head in the
sand. Our Work Ahead research found that 98%
of 2,000 surveyed executives expect the rise of the
new machines – robotics, analytics and AI – to have
a moderate or strong impact on work.5
Hyperconnection is a big deal. As the IoT comes
to life, almost everything in our environment will
become even more technology-infused and intelligent,
with the potential for process innovation and efficiencies.
As more commercial buildings are fitted with smart
sensors, vehicles are fitted with telematics devices,
and wearables become more commonplace, the
real-time data available to insurers explodes. This
gives insurers the opportunity to assess how risks
are evolving in real time, and more importantly
opens up new ways to engage and create fresh value
propositions for customers.
Three key trends are combining to uproot conventional models in the insurance industry: digital technologies are evolving at fever pitch, consumer behaviours and expectations are shifting, and new business models are emerging.
Hyperconnection is a big deal. As the IoT comes to life, almost everything in our environment will become even more technology-infused and intelligent.
Insurer at the Intersection
Human Behaviour
Technology Evolving Business Models
Figure 1
Three Key Trends Driving Change in the Insurance Industry
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Figure 2
Hyper-connection Unlocks New Opportunities
HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
Adoption of new consumer technologies is
accelerating at pace. Statista estimates that more
than 325 million wearable devices were sold globally
last year — almost triple the number sold in 2015. 6
This increased digital adoption and “always on”
connectivity is shifting how consumers want to
engage with insurers. Research from global customer
loyalty specialist Aimia has found that 80% of
consumers across 11 countries are willing to share
more personal data with brands in exchange for
rewards. 7 Vitality is one insurer that is starting
to capitalise on this trend: it is offering health and
life insurance packages that provide consumers
with wearables to track their physical activity, with
rewards available to those who meet certain targets.
This is only the beginning, however. The real shift
is for such insurers to move beyond rewarding
physical activity, towards offering customers
insights about how they can train more efficiently,
or identifying early warning signs to help them
avoid health problems further down the line.
Researchers are already experimenting with AI
to identify potential signs of depression early on,
for instance.8
This is a big shift in traditional insurance thinking,
however, and the skills required to maintain
high-touch, digitally-driven relationships with
customers are not prevalent across the industry
today. Insurers will need to take decisive action
to accelerate development of these new capabilities:
whether recruiting more digital-savvy customer
relationship managers, partnering with third parties
to access behavioral expertise and digital innovation,
or acquiring firms with the skills and technology
solutions they need.
The real shift is for insurers to move beyond rewarding physical activity, towards offering customers insights.
FEEDBACK
ENHANCE
STANDARDS
SENSORS
TRANSMISSION
Act
Acquire
• GPRS• RTLS• RFID• NFC• Wi-Fi
• Location• Condition• Motion• Environment• Social• Visual
• Predictive Analytics• Behaviour Nudge• Next Best Action• Reward & Incentive
ModifiedBehaviour
Action
• AI• Big Data• Third-Party Data• Historic Data
Create
Consolidate
Interpret
IoT VALUE LOOP
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202520202015
TE
CH
NO
LO
GY
CH
AN
GE
5 YEAR PLANNING CYCLE
EVOLVING BUSINESS MODELS
Insurers are struggling to make sure that their
existing business models remain relevant in the
changing environment.
Sharing economy businesses such as Airbnb and
Zipcar are giving rise to new customer demands,
such as shared ownership models and on-demand
insurance. At the same time, a host of online
platforms are springing up to give consumers easy
access to peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance propositions.
On the whole, traditional insurers have been slow
to react, while innovative industry start-ups – or
insurtechs are seeking to disrupt elements of the
value chain. CB Insights recorded more than $1 billion
of investment in insurtech start-ups in the first half
of 2016,9 which illustrates the strength of innovation
in the sector.
In April, Allianz announced a strategic investment
in Lemonade Insurance Company, a New York
start-up powered by AI and behavioural economics.
It uses algorithms to speed up its processes –
approving claims in minutes rather than days – and
automates its service to keep costs down.
And in a nod to the sharing economy’s effects
on customers’ expectations, Lemonade aims to be
transparent with its customers about how it spends
premiums: it keeps a flat fee of 20%; uses 40%
to cover major claims by buying reinsurance and
adding to what it calls its “rainy day fund”; and uses
the remaining 40% to pay claims. If there is money
left over after claims are paid, Lemonade gives it
to a charity of the customer’s choice.10
Silicon Valley start-up Trov, meanwhile, has raised
about $85 million in funding to date, as its on-demand
personal insurance captures investor interest.11
In the commercial space, open data specialist Doorda
works with insurers to help drive competitive
advantage with fresh data insights. For example,
by combining Land Registry and historical flood
data with property insurers’ existing datasets, to
generate new insights around property risk.12 And
New York-based Tyche has created a platform that
blends open data and machine learning to help
casualty underwriters better price risk.13
The complexity of the regulatory environment and
the need for large capital reserves to protect against
unexpected losses may be significant barriers to start-
ups hoping to steal market share from incumbents
in the short term. But incumbents cannot take this
for granted. The exponential rate of technological
change, as illustrated by Figure 3 below, will drastically
shorten the shelf life of insurers’ existing models, if
they fail to adapt them.
In this new digital landscape, where products and
services can rapidly become outdated, and emerging
technologies create urgent new demands from
customers, insurers’ five-year strategic planning
cycles are no longer fit for purpose. If they are to
adapt their strategies in a timely manner, insurers
will need to convert to much shorter planning cycles.
Figure 3
An Unforeseen Rate of Change
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF TECHNOLOGY CHANGE OVER TIME
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THE RISK: THREATS AT THE INTERSECTION
For those insurers that are slow to respond to the changing realities
of the industry, the threats are both real and immediate:
• Squeezed out of customer interactions:
Agile competitors will increasingly oust
insurers from the customer engagement layer
of the value chain unless insurers can create
innovative offerings that add value. The
process is already underway. For instance,
in the property insurance sector, Google’s
smart home solution, Nest, is now acting as
an intermediary between homeowners and
insurance firm Liberty Mutual, offering the
customer a 5% discount if it allows Nest to
relay data back to the insurer.
• Losing access to data: As non-insurers
respond to IoT adoption by introducing their
own innovative solutions to customers, insurers
risk losing access to valuable data that enables
them to better understand and price risk. As
one example, BMW is now fitting telematics as
standard in certain car models to offer drivers
insurance premiums based on their usage.
The German auto manufacturer is currently
working in partnership with Allianz, but as
increasing volumes of real-time data become
available, insurance risks will be reduced,
and there is little to prevent auto giants
from cutting insurers out altogether.
• Disintermediated by platforms: As we
have seen with the meteoric rise of platforms
such as Uber and AirBnB, innovative
environments that recombine services present
a significant threat to incumbents, as customers’
reliance on such intermediaries is reduced.
Emerging platforms such as Friendsurance
and Guevara are already threatening to steal
market share from incumbents by offering
customers more cost effective peer-to-peer
(P2P) insurance solutions.
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In this new digital landscape, where products and services can rapidly become outdated, and emerging technologies create urgent new demands from customers, traditional five-year strategic planning cycles are no longer fit for purpose.
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THE RESPONSE: Rethinking enterprise strategy 02
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The insurance industry is primed for an evolutionary leap over the next decade, and extinction beckons for those providers that fail to place digital at the heart of their strategy and reinvent their model.
No single model will define success. There are three core areas where incumbents
could differentiate themselves by playing to existing strengths and upgrading
their capabilities — a minority of institutions may even feel they can differentiate
themselves in all three.
01 MASTERING THE RELATIONSHIP
The Strategy
• Insurers own the customer relationship and
maintain brand premium.
• They take customer engagement to new levels,
differentiating the brand by adding new types
of value aligned to customer needs.
What Success Looks Like
• Insurers develop omnichannel capability,
engaging clients seamlessly across mobile,
online and physical channels.
• Advanced data analytics capability and new
interfaces enable insurers to deliver timely,
relevant notifications to help clients make
better decisions and avoid risks. Insurers have
more frequent interaction with customers.
• Insurers use their position as a data aggregator
across many customers to strategic advantage,
identifying new areas of value for customers.
• Anthropological insights enable insurers to embed
“nudges” at the right point in work processes
and everyday routines to drive new behaviours.
Leading the Charge
• Swiss Life’s Nordic partner Danica Pension is
working with anthropologists at ReD Associates
(a Cognizant partner) to get an in-depth
understanding of how life events impact its
consumers’ behaviour. Danica used ethnography
and anthropology to study what really goes on
when customers make decisions about their life
insurance policies.
• This deeper understanding of customer decision
making led Danica to shift from having product-
centric conversations around the right insurance
coverage to a holistic service that looks at
how customers are performing with their
finances more broadly. The company has now
created a new interface that helps customers
understand their financial health against a
wide range of long-term goals beyond pension
objectives, enabling better financial planning. 14
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02 DRIVING THE ECOSYSTEM
The Strategy
• Insurers serve wide-ranging consumer needs
by teaming up with an ecosystem of third parties,
including non-insurance companies and innovative
start-ups.
What Success Looks Like
• Insurers open up their systems and share
organisational data with third parties to give
customers an integrated experience. For
example, property insurers might partner
with security specialists and manufacturers of
smart products to provide a combined solution
for managing risk.
• Insurers can present a compelling new proposition
to customers.
• Insurers create an architecture that supports
quick and efficient introduction of new partners
and services, while being able to securely
share and consume data across organisational
boundaries.
Leading the Charge
• Vitality is partnering with Apple, Amazon and
Cineworld to enhance its healthcare and life
insurance offering. The UK health insurance
provider uses smart watches to gauge customers’
activity, assigning reward tokens for the likes
of Amazon and Cineworld to those who meet
their targets. 15
The onus is on existing players to develop a fresh and compelling proposition for customers.
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03 HYPER-EFFICIENT SUPPLIERS
The Strategy
• Insurers identify proficiencies that competitors
or new market entrants would struggle to
replicate with the same cost effectiveness and
efficiency. For instance, the ability to manage
complex regulatory and compliance requirements,
fraud detection and risk management experience,
expansive network for distribution and claims
management.
• Insurers create products and services that
can be plugged into any platform, and embed
unparalleled efficiencies.
What Success Looks Like
• Technology infrastructure is streamlined, using
technologies such as open API and blockchain
to allow data to flow quickly across boundaries.
• Labour-intensive processes such as claims
management are automated using emerging
technologies such as AI and video collaboration.
• Cloud and AI technology enable increasingly
sophisticated approaches to big data analysis,
leading to more tailored cover and development
of new propositions.
Leading the Charge
• WeGoLook, part of Crawfords loss adjustors,
utilise a network of independent “Lookers”
who respond to on-demand requests to perform
local inspections for insurance clients, matching
the agent by location and skill set. Efficiencies
are driven by using independent agents who are
able to selectively respond to inspection requests
and use consumer mobile technology to complete
a visual inspection, rather than employing a full
time workforce.
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for insurers
to pursue, but with the rapid rate of change
besetting the industry, it is becoming apparent that
few incumbents will survive if they fail to change
course. The onus is on existing players to hone
their strengths, become more specialised, and
build on existing competitive advantages – such as
brand prestige, deep risk modelling expertise, and
large pools of capital – as they develop a fresh and
compelling proposition for customers.
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THE FOLLOW-THROUGH: Executing the vision03
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Having nimble processes, a forward-thinking business model and dynamic leadership will mean little if the IT infrastructure itself has been left behind.
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Once insurers have established the right vision for how they will differentiate their offering in the years ahead, they will have to embed the right operating model to support it.
To execute their strategies successfully, all insurers will need to address their traditional
failings and new skills.
The major capabilities they must develop are:
• Moving towards an agile IT architecture and
digital development.
• Adapting to the new economics of the industry.
TOWARDS AN AGILE IT ARCHITECTURE
Insurers won’t be able to keep up with today’s rapid pace of change – in their customers’ expectations,
in emerging technologies, and in the competitior landscape – unless they transition from out-dated legacy
systems to an agile IT architecture. Having nimble processes, a forward-thinking business model and
dynamic leadership will mean little if the IT infrastructure itself has been left behind. Insurers must achieve
several important objectives as they rethink their technology:
Engage Consumers in New Ways
Insurers will need user-friendly interfaces that enable
customer interactions across multiple new channels
and services, such as voice assistants and chatbots,
as well as through new devices such as wearables or
smart home devices.
How To Get There: Implement future-facing customer
relationship management (CRM) systems that can
aggregate customer data in real time, enabling more
valuable interactions. Emerging technologies such
as AI can then enhance front-end engagement.
For instance, insurtech firm SPIXII is developing
AI-based chatbot software that will be able to “nudge”
customers about their potential insurance needs; it
will make recommendations by combining customers’
existing information with real-time data such as
travel plans.16
• Working within more complex ecosystems.
• Mastering human-centric design of products
and services.
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Add Value Through Actionable Insights
Insurers must be able to constantly integrate and
consume new data from multiple sources in real time
and extract meaningful insights that can be served
to customers. This will add value by allowing risk to be
continuously and immediately engaged and managed.
How To Get There: Migrate IT mainframe data to a
big-data platform that is fit for purpose. The Guardian
Life Insurance Company of America has created
a data lake – a huge central storage repository
and processing engine – that will enable it to
extract greater insight from organisational data
and increase its use of cloud solutions in order to
speed product development.17
Leverage Ecosystems
Insurers will need to work closely with other
partners in the value chain to combine business
processes and exchange data. For example,
property insurers may need to access systems
run by building management companies,
IoT vendors and telecommunications
infrastructure providers to find out how
to help commercial tenants cut costs and
mitigate risks.
How To Get There: Create secure open integration
platforms to plug into shared networks to exchange
data with an increasingly sophisticated supply
chain. Security will be a core capability in this
more open world, in order to track and protect
customer data.
Speed Up Product and Service Development
In the new economy, the traditional model of
slowly building and releasing complete end-to-end
services is no longer fit for purpose. In order
to combine existing services into new models,
to serve new customer demands, insurers will
need to adapt traditional systems and processes
to be more modular.
How To Get There: Move to an agile IT model
that incorporates as-a-service and cloud-based
approaches to acquiring IT capabilities. This
asset-light approach will enable insurers to develop,
test and implement new services in response
to shifting market demands, without exposing
themselves to large costs and high risks.
Reduce Costs to Serve
The new IT architecture will need to significantly
reduce costs by automating and streamlining
processes.
How To Get There: Implement AI and machin
e-learning technologies. For example, Liverpool
Victoria has taken a majority stake in automated
advice firm Wealth Wizards,18 while Japan’s Fukoku
Mutual Life Insurance is using IBM’s Watson to
reduce human labour in the claims process. 19
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NEW INDUSTRY ECONOMICS
The old, reactive insurance model is on its way out. Leading insurers that can master preventative models,
and go a step further, to create new value propositions, will be able to drive down claims costs and generate
more capital efficient revenue streams.
The insurer’s value to customers will increasingly be in preventing business disruption or individual loss,
and adding insights from data. For instance, commercial trucking and heavy equipment manufacturers
such as Caterpillar are using telematics to help them use assets more effectively, reduce costs, and enhance
customer service, but data insights being captured also enable the company to avoid failure through
optimising driving techniques and maintenance cycles, thus reducing insurance claims.
Commercially, claims represent by far the largest single cost to insurers: up to 80% of all insurance
premiums are spent on claims payment and associated handling charges, according to PwC.20 With these
costs largely stripped out, market pressures will eventually drive down premiums and increase the pressure
on those insurers that are unable to adapt their business, cost and price models to the new market norms.
There are several steps that insurers can take to adapt their financial models in response to this shift.
Redefine Value
Advanced data capabilities enable insurers to
pass on significant financial benefits to customers.
For example, by mitigating business losses through
predictive fault maintenance, and enabling loss
prevention through better warning systems.
By linking human-centric design with interactive
technology, insurers can create the necessary
engagement models to reduce potential losses.
Rethink Risk Pools
As risk segmentation increases in sophistication
and becomes more specific, the traditional risk
pooling approach comes under pressure. This
will require new approaches to shared risk for
large events, while increasing pressure on getting
risk modelling and data analysis right.
Target Claims Risk
Data and analytics to better understand the human
and system factors driving certain risks and use
the human centred design linked with interactive
technology to build preventative engagement models
to reduce potential losses.
Dynamic Pricing Revisions
Throughout the term of a policy, insurers can
revise premium prices with greater accuracy as
they gather more data from customers and properties.
Where premium prices can be revised down, new
opportunities may arise for cross-selling. In addition,
commercial insurers may increasingly be able to
replicate the pay-as-you-go models that are becoming
more prevalent for personal lines.
High Risk Segments
Use of data and analytics may open the opportunity
to insure lines of business that were once considered
too high risk to be of commercial value. Through
better data and customer engagement systems, these
previously high risk categories could become viable.
Menu-based Pricing
As insurers better understand risk areas through
data, they can offer their customers more targeted
packages.
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The insurer’s value to customers will increasingly be in preventing business disruption or individual loss, and adding insights from data.
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A PARTNERING MENTALITY
Insurers will not be able to seize the new market opportunities on offer and develop new sources of value
for clients on their own; they will need to become highly effective at a new partnering model. This model
will entail embedding more partners into the insurance value chain, including more innovative start-ups,
and an ability to share vast volumes of data quickly and securely across ecosystems. The wealth of
capabilities that insurers can bring to such networks include highly respected brands, large volumes
of historical risk and claims data, a deep understanding of risk modelling, and large pools of capital.
Other participants that could help insurers to innovate, develop new propositions, and generate
new revenue streams include the following.
Technology Hardware Manufacturers
Insurers can team up with vendors that produce
smart devices and sensors. Allianz and Panasonic,
for example, are creating an integrated solution
that provides both smart-home technologies and
assistance with protecting against damage from
break-ins and water leaks.21
Open-Data Providers
Insurers will generate new value by harnessing
third-party big-data sets in addition to the data
they collect themselves. For instance, the Climate
Corporation uses data captured by the National
Weather Service to develop its precipitation maps.
Behavioural Scientists
Insurers will need a deeper understanding of what
drives human behaviours in order to ensure that
businesses and individuals make the most of the
preventative value they are offering. As we have
seen in “Mastering the relationship”, above, Danica
Pension has teamed up with behavioural science
consultancy ReD Associates to develop this capability
Insurtech Insurgents
Innovative start-ups will be important collaborators
for incumbent insurers seeking to accelerate their
development of new technologies and propositions.
AXA, for example, has established a “Strategic
Ventures” unit for this purpose. Its portfolio
includes companies such as Neura, a machine-
learning specialist that creates a digital identity
map of individuals.22
Telecommunications / Infrastructure Providers
Insurers will need strong relationships with the
companies that own the infrastructure that carries
data, if they are to access valuable information
across transport systems, property estates and
mobile networks.
Mastering this new partnering model will require
insurers to move towards an open IT architecture,
component-based processes, faster in-take of data,
and more effective onboarding of partners and
collaborators. To function effectively within such
ecosystems, it will also be critical to strengthen
cybersecurity capabilities.
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Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand | 23
[Insurers] need to be highly effective at a new partnering model.
24 | Future of Insurance
Future of Insurance
HUMAN-CENTRIC DESIGN
As insurers look to shape new value propositions based on coaching customers to mitigate risk and
positively influencing their behaviour, they need to take a human-centric approach to designing services.
Behavioural nudges and helpful information need to
be integrated into people’s routines at the relevant
time, and via the right channels. Jayar La Fontaine
from experience-design firm Idea Couture – a
Cognizant Digital Business – (next page) compares
this approach with the transformation of personal
banking, whereby the shift to mobile means that
customers are more actively involved in decisions
that affect them — and their relationship with their
provider benefits from more regular interaction.
In commercial property insurance, for example, IoT
solutions can capture data from building management
systems that delivers early warnings about issues
such as electrical cable deterioration, water leakage
and machinery failure. But then this information
has to be acted upon, which means the data must
be accessible to the right employee, it may need
to be flagged in relation to the type of risk it
creates, and it must be communicated in a way
that is relevant to their role. In addition, insurers
will need to understand if and why employees
may not be taking appropriate actions already.
Without this, early warnings may go unheeded,
and the benefits of the system will be limited.
Insurers will need a deeper understanding of what drives human behaviours in order to ensure that businesses and individuals make the most of the preventative value they are offering.
Future of Insurance
Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand | 25
Future of Insurance
ANTHROPOLOGY AND INSURANCE: WHY INSURERS NEED DEEPER HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
Dr. Eitan Buchalter is the Senior Resident Anthropologist and Jayar La Fontaine is Co-Head Futures at
experience-design firm Idea Couture. In an interview for this paper they explain why an understanding
of human behaviour must be at the core of insurers’ preventative proposition.
Why is anthropology so important for insurers’ future success?
EB Insurers are experimenting with new digital
solutions to attract customers, whether it’s
helping people become healthier or reducing
the risks they face in their daily lives. But the
solutions need to be based on human
behavioural insights to integrate change
that people will truly engage with. How can this understanding be applied to change behaviours?
EB We don’t want to force a wholesale change in
behaviour, which is very difficult to achieve,
but rather integrate a solution into existing
behaviours or routines. For instance, if you
want to curb unhealthy eating habits, you need
to understand any underlying reasons, such as
comfort eating or depression, and triggers for
the behaviour. If you can communicate with
the individual in that language at the relevant
moments, it’s more likely to promote change.
How should these considerations be factored in when designing the technology interface?
EB The way information is articulated visually is
important because people respond better to
certain imagery. For example, health insurers’
apps may make use of some form of gamification,
so customers can access dashboards of their
exercise achievements, and how any rewards
are building.
JLF The user interface can help insurers establish
more dynamic relationships with their customers.
If a customer has multiple policies, then in a
similar way to mobile banking, insurers can
enable the customer to rebalance their portfolio
and adjust payments dynamically in response
to changing circumstances. This type of approach
will encourage more regular interactions with
insurers, as it ties the customers’ activity back
to what’s happening in their everyday lives.
Future of Insurance
Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand | 27
Future of Insurance
CONCLUSION: Repositioning the brand
The next decade is set to be a decisive one for insurers, as digital technologies, shifting
business models and customer demands reset industry norms. The chance to take the right
path at the intersection, and to get on the right side of these changes is now, but if insurers
don’t move fast to respond they will lose market share — potentially forever.
Traditional insurers are already feeling significant pressure on their models, and this is only
set to intensify. Those that don’t react will become increasingly irrelevant and commoditized,
as others take ownership of customer experience, understanding and engagement.
For industry leaders, that are already recognising the importance of developing new value
propositions for customers, and of shifting their brand positioning, the potential rewards are
huge: a share of the $1.6 trillion of value created by digital in the next three years1, a millennial
customer base that is fast-growing its wealth, and the ability to open new revenue streams
outside of risk indemnification.
Future of Insurance
Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand | 27
28 | Future of Insurance
Future of Insurance
1 Ben Pring and Michael Clifton, “The Work Ahead: Seven Key Trends Shaping the Future of Work in the
Insurance Industry”, Cognizant, 2017.
https://www.cognizant.com/whitepapers/twa-seven-key-trends-shaping-the-future-of-work-in-the-insurance-
industry-codex2472.pdf.
2 Ibid.
3 “One in four breadwinners don’t have life insurance leaving their families with a cover gap of £263 billion”,
This is Money, 7 January 2016.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3387027/One-four-UK-breadwinners-not-life-insurance-
buy-life-cover.html.
4 “The 2016 AI Recap: Startups See Record High In Deals And Funding”, CB Insights, 19 January 2017.
https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-startup-funding.
5 Paul Roehrig and Benjamin Pring, “The Work Ahead: Mastering the Digital Economy”, Cognizant, 2016.
https://www.cognizant.com/whitepapers/the-work-ahead-mastering-the-digital-economy-codex2115.pdf.
6 “Wearable device unit sales worldwide by region from 2015 to 2021 (in millions)”, Statista, March 2017.
7 “The Data Exchange Economy: Consumers willing to share personal data for a fair return”,
Aimia, 8 September 2015.
https://www.aimia.com/en/media-center/news-releases/viewer.html/en/the-data-exchange-economy-
consumers-willing-to-share-personal-data-for-a-fair-return.
8 “A new AI is detecting depression using Instagram”, Wired, August 2016.
9 “Funding to Insurance Tech Startups Tops $1B In First Half Of 2016”, CB Insights, July 2016.
10 https://www.lemonade.com/faq#service.
11 “Munich Re leads $45 million investment in ‘insurtech’ startup Trov”, Reuters, 6 April 2017.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-insurance-tech-munich-re-idUKKBN1781U8.
FOOTNOTES
Future of Insurance
12 “Where there’s Open Data, there’s Competitive Advantage for Insurers”, Doorda, October 2015.
13 https://www.tycherisk.co/.
14 http://www.worldfinance.com/wealth-management/pension-funds/how-anthropology-can-benefit-
customer-service-in-the-pension-industry.
15 http://uk.businessinsider.com/vitality-apple-watch-promote-exercise-2016-9.
16 Akila Narayanan, “Can chatbots advance insurance services?”, Cognizant, 7 August 2016.
http://digitally.cognizant.com/chatbots-advancing-insurance/.
17 http://www.lifeinsuranceinternational.com/news/guardian-life-insurance-partners-with-
cognizant-in-big-data-modernisation-4836971.
18 “LV= invests in leading robo-adviser wealth wizards”, Liverpool Victoria, 3 August 2015.
https://www.lv.com/about-us/press/article/lv-invests-in-leading-robo-adviser-wealth-wizards.
19 “Japanese company replaces office workers with artificial intelligence”, The Guardian, 5 January 2017.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/05/japanese-company-replaces-office-workers-
artificial-intelligence-ai-fukoku-mutual-life-insurance.
20 “Cutting the cost of insurance claims”, PwC, January 2010.
https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/reports/cutting-cost-insurance-claims-taking.
21 “Allianz and Panasonic enter partnership to provide Smart Home solutions”, Allianz, 3 September 2015.
https://www.allianz.com/en/press/news/company/point_of_view/150903-allianz-and-panasonic-enter-
partnership.html/.
22 “AXA Strategic Ventures bets on machine learning with Neura”, AXA, 21 January 2016.
https://www.axa.com/en/newsroom/news/axa-strategic-ventures-neura.
Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand | 29
30 | Future of Insurance
Future of Insurance
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
David Sexton
Vice President Leader of Cognizant’s Insurance Practice for UK & Ireland
Faisal Aziz
Senior Director Leader of Cognizant Consulting’s Insurance Practice for UK & Ireland
David Sexton is Vice President and Leader of Cognizant’s
Insurance Practice for UK & Ireland, covering all industry
subsectors - life and pensions, general insurance and the
London market. He is responsible for Cognizant’s response
to the UK insurance industry challenges, delivering to our
existing client engagements and bringing Cognizant’s IT
modernization and industry innovation to our clients and
the UK&I insurance arena. Based in London, David brings
20 years of experience in insurance and technology. David
can be reached at: David.Sexton@cognizant.com | LinkedIn:
https://in.linkedin.com/in/david-sexton-3407b911/.
Faisal Aziz is a Senior Director within Cognizant Consulting’s
Insurance Practice. He has worked in the Insurance industry
for over 20 years and leads Cognizant Consulting’s Insurance
Practice for the UK & Ireland that includes a large team of
industry business, architecture and delivery subject matter
experts. He is also Managing Client Partner, with overall
responsibility for delivery across the full SDLC and diverse
technologies. He is a graduate of Imperial College and has
an advanced management diploma, MBA and a degree in
computer science and maths. He represents Cognizant
Insurance in media has led industry-level policy formulation
at the ABI. Faisal can be reached at: Faisal.Aziz@cognizant.
com | LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/faisal-aziz-1031939/.
Insurance at the Intersection: Reinventing the Model, Repositioning the Brand | 31
Future of Insurance
Rory Yates
Senior Director Cognizant Digital Business
Jayar La Fontaine
Co-Head Futures Idea Couture, a Cognizant Digital Business
Daren Rudd
Chief Architect Insurance Practice for UK & Ireland
Jayar La Fontaine is co-head of IC/ Futures with Idea Couture,
a Cognizant Digital Business, where he helps organizations
to develop their capacity for future thinking so that they can
respond more flexibly to change and disruption. The roster of
clients with whom he has explored the future includes AT&T,
LG, Cisco, Samsung, FedEx, Mattel and BMO. He also teaches
the discipline of foresight at the Monterrey Center for
Higher Learning of Design (CEDIM) and the NASA-sponsored
International Space University (ISU). Jayar can be reached at:
jlafontaine@ideacouture.com | LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.
com/in/jayar-la-fontaine-a9bb8823/.
Rory Yates is a Senior Director and Head of Digital
Transformation Consulting for Cognizant Digital Business
in UK & Ireland. He has over 20 years of business leadership
experience spanning client, agency and pure consultancy
roles, and a wide range of industries, including retail,
insurance, financial services, travel and publishing.
From leading the development of a number of digital
firsts to massive increases in financial performance for
large blue chips, he has taken a leading project and/or P&L
role. His main focus now is on leading digital transformation
and corporate innovation programmes to help companies
make the most of the digital economy. Rory can be reached
at: Rory.Yates@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.
com/in/roryyates.
Daren Rudd is Chief Architect within Cognizant’s Insurance
Practice for UK & Ireland. He has over 20 years of experience
working with insurance companies in delivering successful
future state architectures and defining technology change
roadmaps. In recent years he has helped insurance industry
clients to understand the transformational benefits of digital
business models utilising web, mobile, social and emerging
technologies, including IoT and blockchain, to innovate and
build new and engaging customer propositions. Daren can be
reached at: Daren.Rudd@cognizant.com | LinkedIn: https://
in.linkedin.com/in/daren-rudd-a323812/.
TL Codex 2896
Idea Couture is a global strategic innovation and experience design firm. Idea Couture operates where design meets business, insight meets foresight, and empathy meets economics. It helps organizations navigate and innovate in complex and uncertain environments to generate new growth, meaningful differentiation, and economic value. See: www.ideacouture.com
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